Track tours are private tours we’ve arranged with the Museums just for Browncoats, but those same museums are open all week and have public tours offered as well. Unless otherwise stated, the Museums are open 7 days a week until 5 pm. When the hours are different we’ll notate it.
Here are the museums in easy walking distance of the hotel. Current exhibits are under the link. We are starting at the corner closest to the hotel and working our way around clockwise. For Museums a short bus or subway ride away see Things to Do Near the Ball.
Supreme Court – FRIDAY ONLY
The Supreme Court is only open Monday through Friday from 9 am until 430 pm.
Although the Supreme Court does not offer guided walking tours, visitors are encouraged to tour public portions of the building on a self-guided basis and take advantage of a variety of educational programs, including Courtroom Lectures, a Visitor Film, and court-related Exhibitions. In addition to the Courtroom, portions of the first and ground floors are open to the public. Highlights include the John Marshall statue, portraits and busts of former Justices, and two self-supporting marble staircases. The Courtroom is located on the first floor.
Court sessions, including handing down of opinions are also open to the public. Courtroom seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Visitors should be aware that the business of the Court may from time to time affect public access to the building or alter programming offered.
Folger Shakespeare Library – BALL TOUR: Friday 4 pm
Public tours: Monday through Saturday at 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm; Sunday at 12 pm and 3 pm.
The Folger Shakespeare Library has the world’s largest collection of materials relating to Shakespeare and his works, from the 16th century to the present day, as well as a world-renowned collection of books, manuscripts, and prints from Renaissance Europe.
The Folger collection is vast and varied. The vault houses about 260,000 printed books; 60,000 manuscripts; 90,000 prints, drawings, photographs, paintings, and other works of art; and a wealth of performance history, from a quarter of a million playbills to films, recordings, and stage costumes.
Learn more about the materials in our collection.
Library of Congress – BALL TOUR – Friday 1 pm
Multiple public tours and self guided tours daily.
Get your own Library Card! The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world and the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution. It has millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
Capitol – closes at 430pm.
Multiple same day tours and a decent cafeteria.
Exhibition Hall features original documents and artifacts, videos, touchable models, computer interactives and two small theaters, providing visitors with an in-depth look at how Congress works, the history of the Capitol and Congress, as well as information on Representatives and Senators.
United States Botanic Garden – BALL TOUR: Friday 330 pm
Daily tours and cell phone guided tours.
More than 200 years ago, George Washington had a vision for the capital city of the United States that included a botanic garden that would demonstrate and promote the importance of plants to the young nation. Established by the U.S. Congress in 1820, the U.S. Botanic Garden is one of the oldest botanic gardens in North America. Since 1934, it has been administered through the Architect of the Capitol.
National Museum of the American Indian
Daily public tours at 130 pm. Cafeteria is Fridays lunch point and Saturdays rained out back up.
A diverse and multifaceted cultural and educational enterprise, the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is an active and visible component of the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum complex. The NMAI cares for one of the world’s most expansive collections of Native artifacts, including objects, photographs, archives, and media covering the entire Western Hemisphere, from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego.
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum – BALL TOUR: Saturday 10 am, 130 pm, 215 pm
You can rent a digital guide for $6/each as well.
The National Air and Space Museum has thousands of objects on display, including the 1903 Wright Flyer, Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, and a lunar rock you can touch. In addition to our exhibition galleries, you may want to visit the Albert Einstein Planetarium, Lockheed Martin IMAX® Theater, and the Public Observatory on the east terrace.
Hirshhorn: National Museum of Modern Art – BALL TOUR: Saturday 1030 am
Public tours 1230 pm and 330 pm daily.
We explore the art and artists of our time through groundbreaking exhibitions, performances, and a world-class collection.
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art – BALL TOUR: Saturday 1020am
Public tours daily.
The National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) began as a private educational institution in 1964 to promote cross-cultural understanding in the social sciences and arts. The museum, formally renamed the National Museum of African Art in 1981, opened to the public in a new facility on the National Mall in 1987. Initially focused on the traditional arts of sub-Saharan Africa, NMAfA broadened its collecting scope and programs to include both modern and contemporary artworks, distinguishing itself as the first museum in the United States to include a sustained focus on modern and contemporary African art in its mission.
Smithsonian Castle
Completed in 1855, the Castle is the signature building and home to the Smithsonian Visitor Center. As such, it makes a great starting point for your journey—here you can get a grasp of the scope and scale of the Smithsonian, see collections highlights from each museum (which takes only a few minutes and is neat), tour the Castle’s 19th-century architecture, see what’s going on today at all the museums, and consult with in-house experts about what to see and do. Also, the final resting place of the Institution’s benefactor, James Smithson (1765-1829), is in a small chapel-like room located at the north entrance to the Castle.
S. Dillon Ripley Center
Entered from a copper domed kiosk on Jefferson Drive between the “Castle” and the Freer Gallery of Art, the S. Dillon Ripley Center houses the Smithsonian Associates, the Discovery Theater, and the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service.
Sackler & Freer Galleries – BALL TOUR: Saturday 115 pm
Public tours: 12:15 pm, 1:15 pm, 2:15 pm, and 3:15 pm daily.
Asia meets America at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery—together, the Freer|Sackler, the Smithsonian’s museums of Asian art. We exist to enhance understanding and appreciation across cultures. To that end, masterpieces of Asian art are complemented by works of the American Aesthetic movement, including the famed Peacock Room. We want you to be enthralled by works of transcendent beauty—from the western shores of Turkey to the islands of Japan. We want you to encounter objects and ideas and the people behind them. We want you to be intrigued by the circumstances in which they were made and by the cultures that produced them.
Holocaust Memorial Museum – one block off the Mall.
A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity.
U.S. Department of the Interior Museum – 2 blocks off the Mall.
Monday to Friday 8:30am – 4:30pm
This state-of-the-art exhibition introduces audiences to the scope and influence of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Features of this all-new visitor experience include over 75 fascinating artifacts, an inspiring 14-minute film, plus educational multimedia presentations to acquaint and actively engage the public with the Department’s history, relevance, and current missions. A timeline, plus broad interpretive themes of discovering, protecting, contemporary cultures, and powering our future provide a framework for understanding the interconnectivity among the Department’s nine bureaus, as well as the projects in which our 70,000 employees are engaged nationally and internationally. Learn just how much there is to discover about the Department of Everything Else.
Art Museum of the Americas – 1 block off the Mall
(Closed Mondays.)
AMA | Art Museum of the Americas is the oldest museum of modern and contemporary Latin American and Caribbean art in the United States. It is part of the Organization of American States (OAS), an international public organization whose aim is to promote democracy, peace, justice, and solidarity among its 35 member countries.
Sadly the Washington Monument will still be closed, but grab a selfie while you’re there. Chances are a food truck or two will be nearby as well.
If you keep going past the Washington Monument you will come across the various War Memorials. Sunday has a walking tour of all the War Memorials, for basic information please see the War Memorials page.
National Museum of African American History and Culture
You cannot enter without a pass and I cannot access passes for the Ball. There is a limited amount of walk-up passes given weekdays or you can try to reserve a pass online.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture. It was established by Act of Congress in 2003, following decades of efforts to promote and highlight the contributions of African Americans. To date, the Museum has collected more than 36,000 artifacts and nearly 100,000 individuals have become members. The Museum opened to the public on September 24, 2016, as the 19th and newest museum of the Smithsonian Institution.
Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Public tours at 1015 am and 1 pm. Audio Tours offered via handheld rental devices.
Votes for Women 12 – 12:30pm – Meet a costumed interpreter by the Suffragette section and learn about the fight for the 19th amendment.
Look for Docents stationed at carts help visitors get their hands on history and learn about the museum’s collections. Activities include operating a cotton gin, peeking through a stereoscope, experiencing what it felt like to wear a corset, using a press to print a card, and copying a letter the way Jefferson did. Other Docents offer a 15-minute overview of an exhibition or briefly discuss a favorite museum object. Look for the “Docent on Duty” signs posted outside the exhibition entrances.
The National Museum of American History collects and preserves more than 3 million artifacts—all true national treasures. We take care of everything from the original Star-Spangled Banner and Abraham Lincoln’s top hat to Dizzy Gillespie’s angled trumpet and Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. Our collections form a fascinating mosaic of American life and comprise the greatest single collection of American history.
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) opened in 1910; the green-domed museum on the National Mall was among the first Smithsonian building constructed exclusively to house the national collections and research facilities.
Whether looking at the history and cultures of Africa, describing our earliest Mammalian ancestor or primate diversity around the world, examining ancient life forms including the ever popular dinosaurs, or exploring the beauty of rare gemstones such as uniquely colored diamonds, the Museum’s temporary and permanent exhibitions serve to educate, enlighten and entertain millions of visitors each year.
National Archives Building – one block off the Mall
Public Tour: Friday 945 AM
The National Archives Museum is home of the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights which are housed in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom; the Public Vaults permanent exhibit gallery; the David M. Rubenstein Gallery, the Lawrence F. O’Brien temporary exhibit gallery; the Boeing Learning Center; and the William G. McGowan Theater.
National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden and Smithsonian Butterfly Habitat Garden [Pollinator Garden]
Just some gardens between museums. Have a wander.
National Gallery of Art
Tours throughout the say focusing on specific topics, self guided tours available as well.
The National Gallery of Art was conceived and given to the people of the United States by Andrew W. Mellon (1855–1937). Mellon was a financier and art collector from Pittsburgh who came to Washington in 1921 to serve as secretary of the treasury. During his years of public service he came to believe that the United States should have a national art museum equal to those of other great nations.
Loan exhibitions have been an important aspect of the programs at the National Gallery of Art since it first opened to the public. While the Gallery’s collection comprises primarily European and American art from the Renaissance to the present day, loan exhibitions enable the museum to display art from a wider range of cultures and time periods, including Art of Aztec Mexico (1983), The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent (1987), Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia (1997), and Edo: Art in Japan (1998–1999). They also allow the Gallery to show works in its own collection alongside related works from around the world, as was the case for Alexander Calder (1998), O’Keeffe on Paper (2000), Looking In: Robert Frank’s “The Americans” (2009), and George Bellows (2012).
Next to the Hotel
D.C. Fire and EMS Museum
As you look at the various displays, consider rich history of this Department from its earliest days to the present. The intricate painting on the leather parade hat from the original Anacostia Fire Company reflects the Native American Peoples who inhabited this area first. The leather fire brigade bucket from Francis Scot Key’s home, he penned the Star Spangled Banner, in Georgetown reminds us that Washington DC’s history is our nation’s history. The original ticker alarm tape from a multi-alarm fire at the White House in 1929 reminds us that any building, no matter how important and how big, is not immune from fire.
National Guard Memorial Museum – Monday through Friday p am – 4 pm
The National Guard’s story transcends all eras of our nation’s history, encompassing millions of citizen-soldiers past and present. Now, more than ever, Guardsmen are being asked to do more, both domestically and abroad. Today there are nearly 470,000 Citizen Soldiers and Airmen comprising the Army and Air National Guard in 54 states, territories, and the District of Columbia, spanning more than 3,300 American communities. Members of the National Guard serve both their states and their nation, making the National Guard the only U.S. military service that handles domestic and international missions in a unique state-federal partnership. Honoring their service and heroism for present and future generations is our duty and calling.
National Postal Museum – BALL TOUR: Sunday 11 am, 1 pm
Daily public tours 11 am and 1 pm. Self guided tours.
The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum is located in the historic City Post Office Building, which was constructed in 1914 and served as the Washington, D.C., post office from 1914 through 1986. The Museum occupies 100,000 square feet of the building with 35,000 square feet devoted to exhibition space. The Museum also houses a 6,000-square-foot research library, a stamp store and a museum shop.
The museum atrium has a 90-foot-high ceiling with three vintage airmail planes suspended overhead, a reconstructed railway mail car, an 1851 stagecoach, a 1931 Ford Model A postal truck and a contemporary Long Life Vehicle postal truck. Among its permanent exhibitions are: “Binding the Nation,” “Systems at Work,” “Moving the Mail,” “Mail Call,” “Customers and Communities” and “Pony Express: Romance vs. Reality.” The museum is also home to the William H. Gross Stamp Gallery—the largest stamp gallery in the world.
Visitors can walk along a Colonial post road, ride with the mail in a stagecoach, browse through a small town post office from the 1920s, receive free stamps to start a collection and more. Museum presentations bring to life the story of “Owney,” the mascot dog of the Railway Mail Service, and tell the history of U.S. mail trains.
Memorials Along the Mall
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
US Navy Memorial Plaza
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
Korean War Veterans Memorial
John Ericsson Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
World War II Memorial
